Newspaper round-up: April 16

"The man with the hardest job, of course, is the coach, Ray Jennings, who has to make the call on who takes the enforced rest. He is very forthright and honest, however, and although nobody would ever question his decisions, he always explains his thinking. Basically, as I have said several times already in this column, he has an impossible job given the number of world class players in the squad," wrote Jacques Kallis in The Times of India.

"I am a mentor. I help the batsmen, the bowlers and the captain in firming up strategies and team selection,” Wasim Akram was quoted as saying by The Times of India on his role within the Kolkata Knight Riders. He added, “Skipper Ganguly has led from the front, he is on time for practice, he dives around and is the best fielder in the team!"

"Just when you think you have seen all of India, you come across with something even more fascinating. It's so beautiful and I love every second of it,” Adam Gilchrist, skipper, Deccan Chargers was quoted as saying by the Hindustan Times about Dharmasala. On their upcoming match against the Kings XI Punjab he added, “We need to keep winning and then hope that we have done enough to deserve a place in the semis. A huge team effort has been behind the turnaround in the last three games and we hope to keep it going."

"Essentially, the way we took the first six overs, both with ball and bat, won us the game. Before the match we had spoken about how we wanted our destiny to be in our hands, and not have to depend on net run rates or the results of other teams. It's an attitude that served us well, and we'll be taking it into our final league game of the season. All we want to do is build on our win, and look for- ward with a positive attitude," wrote Royal Challengers captain Anil Kumble in the Hindustan Times on his team’s approach for the previous game and the forthcoming ones.

"I will be playing at my home ground, and it’s obviously a special feeling. At the same time, I can tell you that it’s a bit weird not to have the crowd behind me. I have grown up playing at Eden Gardens and it will be really satisfying if I can perform in front of the crowd on Saturday,” said Abhishek Jhunjhunwala to The Telegraph while speaking about the upcoming match - KKR vs RR. On his performance so far, he said, "I am pretty satisfied with my performance so far. ... I hope I get to play a few more balls."

"Hayden has been our leading player, so him not batting well as he had been has affected us. I have also fired only in a few matches. After the injury, I wasn't 100 per cent sure of what I was doing in the middle. I am a sort of player who loves to spend more time on the wicket," Mahendra Singh Dhoni was quoted as saying by the Indian Express after Chennai Super Kings loss to Delhi Daredevils. On CSK’s chances for a semi-final spot, he said, “It's not in our hands now. It depends on Deccan Chargers, who have two matches while we have only one."